Days of Evolution's Past
Kitty stared despondently at her toy dragon. She was lying on her belly on her bed with her little toy opposite of her. Today was awful.
"It wasn't Kurt's fault at all," she said quietly. The stuffed toy just kept smiling.
Kitty got up to her knees and picked up her toy, looking into its cloth eyes. She told it, "It's so unfair."
Suddenly, the professor's voice rang in her mind, Kitty, can you please come to the living room?
Sighing, Kitty put down the little dragon and fell through her bed, dreadfully, into the said room. When she landed on the floor, Kurt had appeared in a cloud of blue smoke on a sofa. They made eye contact, but Kitty quickly looked away.
"Kitty," Kurt said softly. He walked over to her. "You know I don't blame you."
"But, you still—"
"That is the fault of the principal."
Kitty sighed again, frustrated. "But you were a victim! You don't punish the victim."
"I believe we've established that the principal will find any excuse to throw us out," Kurt replied. "Look on the bright side, Kitty. At least we don't have to go to school. Think of it as a holiday from humans."
"But what will I tell my parents? What will you tell yours?"
Kurt couldn't answer that, and looked away shamefully.
"We'll just have to tell the truth," he said sadly.
Abruptly, their conversation was interrupted when Xavier entered the room, followed by Jean, Scott and the older X-Men, and—
"Who are they?" Kitty asked, pointing at the group of runaways behind the X-Men.
Wasting no time, Hank quickly introduced each visitor and explained to the teenagers, "They have come from the future to alter the mistakes of the past. Until the others return from school, I want the two of you to watch over them while the rest of us have a meeting."
With that, the group was left with Kitty and Kurt to entertain. But before the two could bother introducing themselves, Kurt was tackled to the floor by TJ into a hug, and Lockheed took the chance to latch itself onto Kitty while Carmen went over to hug her in a less violent manner.
"Why were Kitty and Kurt here?" Scott asked the professor as they went to Cerebro.
"Yeah," Jean said in agreement. "They should be in school. What happened?"
Xavier let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know either. Neither of them wanted to speak."
Entering the steel-paned room, Xavier moved himself towards the control panel and put on the helmet.
"Who're you contacting?" Wolverine asked.
"Magneto's Acolytes," Xavier answered, "the Morlocks, and the Brotherhood. We'll need as many allies as we can to fix the future."
Storm held her chin contemplatively. "Will the Brotherhood cooperate?"
"They will," said Xavier with certainty. "Especially since Pietro's daughter is here too, along with Wanda's."
"But we can't call every Morlock out of the sewers," Hank pointed out.
"I'll just ask for Evan," Xavier replied.
"And the Acolytes?" Wolverine asked, raising an eyebrow. "No way are we having Sabretooth in the mansion or that pyromaniac. The Brotherhood is one thing but two madmen are not coming in."
"I'm afraid we must compromise in this situation," Xavier said. "For the sake of the future, we must work past our differences, and fight together, not one another."
Meanwhile, Jean seemed distracted and out of the conversation, which Scott noticed.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"It's nothing," Jean replied. "I just wonder how are Kitty and Kurt dealing with the 'future' thing right now."
Scott nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I know. It'll probably be hard for them to take it in."
"So, I get to have a pet dragon when I grow up? Awesome!" Kitty said cheerfully.
She was sitting on the carpet with Lockheed on her lap to pet while Carmen sat beside her. She was sitting in a crooked circle with Kurt on the opposite side together. On his left was his daughter TJ and Luna, and on the right were Shogo and Rachel.
"Who's my future wife?" Kurt asked TJ excitedly. "Is it Amanda? No, don't tell me!" he quickly said. "I have to find out myself, don't I?"
"Well, I would like a hint, at least," Kitty said to Carmen hopefully.
"It's not Alvers, that's for sure," Carmen replied.
"Really?" Kitty said. "I wonder who then…"
"Wait fourteen years," Rachel told her.
"So, what're ze X-Men like in ze future?" Kurt asked.
"And the X-Mansion?" Kitty added.
"We'll discuss that later," Rachel answered. "It'd be troublesome to repeatedly explain things."
"Speaking of which," Shogo spoke up, pointing at Kitty and Kurt, "why are the two of you here? At this time, everyone should be in school, shouldn't they?"
Everyone turned to look at either Kitty or Kurt, who were both looking away nervously.
"Well…reasons," Kitty said.
Kurt nervously cleared his throat. "Yeah, um… There was a bit of a problem at school, so we were sent home early."
"Vat happened?" TJ asked.
"Err…"
Luna could sense their discomfort, and told them, "It's okay if you don't want to tell us."
Kitty looked at Luna with a look of relief, but still said, "We'll tell you some day."
Suddenly, there was a loud CRASH! sound. Everyone rushed to the window and saw Fred Dukes wading through the entrance where the gates have been kicked down. Beside him, the rest of the Brotherhood was climbing over the walls into the compound. There was a streak of silver, and there was a knock on the door.
Luna excitedly went to greet the visitor, who she knew was her father. But when she opened the door, Pietro dashed past her to greet both Kitty and Kurt.
"The Brotherhood's here cuz' of your prof," the speedster said. "Prof X said that there was some important discussion 'bout the future."
"The professor called you guys over?" Kitty reiterated, surprised.
"Yes," Pietro replied, stretching the word sarcastically. "He even said the fate of mutantkind depended on it."
Kurt turned to TJ. "Vat happened in ze future?" he asked, wide-eyed.
TJ seemed reluctant to answer, and looked at her feet.
"Whoa!" Todd said as he hopped into the house. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing at TJ.
Holding TJ's shoulder protectively, Kurt answered, "My daughter."
"Whose daughter?" Wanda asked, entering too.
TJ looked at Wanda, eyes glistening, but said nothing. She then noticed Luna was standing behind Pietro, twiddling her thumbs as if unsure of how to approach her dad.
Then, Lance came in, took one look at the runaways, and asked, "Who're they?"
Recognizing the man, Rachel immediately stood in front of Kitty, and told Lance, "We come from the future."
Lance analysed Rachel from head to toe, and asked her, "Are you Summers and Jean Grey's daughter?"
"It's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Kitty said, laughing.
"Well, she does have the same look like Summers's does," Lance noted, "minus the shades, of course."
Finally, Fred squeezed through the door, and would've taken the frame with him had Kitty not phased him in safely.
"What're you doing here anyway?" Lance asked Kitty. "I don't think that school's ended yet."
"Ooh!" Todd said teasingly. "Did Bayville's best students get suspended?"
Kurt and Kitty's silence proved Todd correct, so TJ asked again, "Vat happened?"
"We… don't really want to talk about it," Kitty said quietly.
"Unrelated to the topic at hand!" Pietro said, zipping around the teenagers. "Just how long do we have to wait? I've got way better things to do, you know!"
"Right," Wanda huffed sarcastically. "'Better things'! Like what? Rot on a sofa and watch TV all day?"
"The latest 'Flash' episode will be aired in five minutes, and I want to record it!" Pietro answered.
Lance rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just watch it here?"
"Well, who knows how long this damn meeting will take!"
"Excuse me?" said a tiny voice.
Everyone looked at Luna. She was tugging on Pietro's shirt and looking up at him shyly.
"Whaddaya want, kid?" Pietro asked impatiently.
Shrinking, Luna quickly blurted out, "Imyourdaughter!"
The others couldn't catch her words, but Pietro's enhanced processing-speed deciphered her words. Pietro looked back and forth from his daughter to the other runaways.
"She's telling ze truth," TJ told him.
"Oh," Pietro squeaked. Even he had had no idea how to react.
Meanwhile, Todd was whispering to Fred, "Someone would actually want to marry Pietro?"
Fred replied, "Maybe he—"
"Just so you know," Luna told those two, "I am a legitimate child."
"It's still surprising," Wanda said as she knelt down to Luna's height. "What with Pietro's personality and all—it's hard to believe that someone would take a fancy to him."
"Hey!" Pietro said indignantly. "I'll have you know that I am the friend of the female population—human and mutant alike."
Lance snorted. "At least, until they know your real personality."
Pietro scowled and leant down to tell Luna, "Don't listen to them."
Standing up straight again, Pietro asked Kitty, sweeping a hand over the group of runaways, "So, whose kids are they? (Pointing at TJ) Obviously, she's Nightcrawler's, and that (Pointing at Rachel) is Cyclops and Jean Grey's kid. What are about the rest of you?"
Kitty wasted no time to introduce her son and her new pet dragon.
"A dragon?" Todd said, awed. He tried to pet Lockheed, only for the alien to blow a fireball in his face. Todd screamed and emptied a vase full of water upon his flaming face.
"Lockheed!" Kitty scolded her pet. The said pet simply laughed in a raspy way, blowing out smoke.
"What is that commotion?" Storm said angrily as she entered the room, and she saw the Brotherhood and the X-men plus the runaways, and got the point. "Go wait in the meeting room," she ordered them.
Kurt and Kitty nodded and led the guests out of the room while Storm herself stayed behind to wait for the other guests, namely the Acolytes and he dear nephew.
Chapter Four *END*